Magic Monday
Oct. 13th, 2019 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
It's a little past midnight, so here we go with a new Magic Monday. The picture is of Merlin Ambrosius recounting his exploits to his teacher and chronicler Bleys. We don't know a lot about Merlin, but a couple of very early Welsh books preserve several poems that are credited to him, and there's at least as much evidence that he was an actual person as there is for most figures in western Europe in the darkest parts of the Dark Ages. His dates are a little uncertain; one set of accounts has him born in southern Wales around 450, another places him in southern Scotland as a mature man at the time of the battle of Arderydd in 573. Yes, there may well have been two men with the same first name -- Moridunos, "he of the sea-fortress," in Old Brythonic, which works out to Myrddin in modern Welsh and Merlin in modern English. (Some of my readers will already be aware that there's a reason I've featured Merlin and Bleys as the poster children for this week's Magic Monday...)
Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though I'm going to have somewhat limited email access tomorrow and it may be Tuesday or even Wednesday before I get to them all. If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 143,916th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.0 of The Magic Monday FAQ here.
I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the button below to access my online tip jar. If you're interested in political and economic astrology, or simply prefer to use a subscription service to support your favorite authors, you can find my Patreon page here and my SubscribeStar page here.
***This Magic Monday is now closed -- and yes, this means you. See you next week!***
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Clue Stick Gratefully Accepted
Date: 2019-10-14 04:18 am (UTC)Well, I've only been practicing Geomancy for a week now and I've already gone and gotten myself into trouble. I dutifully performed a daily reading every day except Saturday, when Typhoon Hagibis swept past us. We were out of the direct path, thankfully, but we did batten the hatches, and I heeded the tradition not to divine when weather is rough.
Anyway. I'd like your help talking me down off of a ledge here, divinationally speaking at least. I understand that beginners often see dire portents for everyday humdrum events. Even knowing this and recognizing that this is what's likely happening, I still am experiencing the same right now. My hope is that you will now just bop me with a clue stick, and I can go forth with a better idea of how not to see tragedy every reading I do.
What's happened is that, being a little short of funds lately, I thought I would try out the "special question" regarding obtaining money. So I asked, simply, "What is the best way for me to obtain money?" The four Mothers were Fortuna Minor, Fortuna Minor, Albus, and Fortuna Major. So, Houses 1 and 2 are the same figure, and it's positive-- a great sign! Free money, coming in a surprising way, and I don't even have to work for it. Moreover, the Judge was Fortuna Major. What's there not to like?
Calculating the Index gave me a source of unexpected resources (and Fortuna Major) in the 4th House. Again, very positive. As I don't own any real estate, I thought perhaps it had to do with my father. Money from my family? Hmmm. Next, the Part of Fortune-- where to look for good money luck-- gave me 8th house. Death or occultism. "May it not be money coming from a death", I thought... then I saw the figure in that house was Tristitia. Crap. Well, that got my attention. Now a little nervous, I decided it was time to take a closer look at the rest of the chart to see what the figures seemed to be saying.
Fortuna Minor passes through the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th houses. As I am hoping to shift my income to earning more from my musical ventures, 5th and 6th houses could be a positive sign in that direction. On the other hand, perhaps it comes from money being given to my daughter (5th house) from a lawyer (6th house, possibly)? Albus is in the 3rd and 12th houses-- in other words, bracketing both querent and quesited. Tough wisdom (Albus) of regarding limits (12th) taught to me, my brother and/or my father's brothers (3rd)? Albus is also the Left Witness, indicating that my future state regarding my enquiry about money sources is also some kind of wisdom gained. The Judge, Fortuna Major, also appears in the 4th house (my dad? an ending?) and 7th (intense human relationships, agreements-- such as a will?). The Right Witness, which I originally took to mean my sadness as the Querent at having very little money, took on a new meaning when I find it in the 8th house (death, ghosts), and the 10th house (my mother?). (I'm guessing the 8th house is a common source of "dire warnings" confusion for beginners... but the tragic reading seems to fit too well for me to avoid that trap at the moment.) Finally, since there were only two houses I hadn't looked at, I saw Populus in the 9th (long journeys) and 11th (friends, promises, sources of help)-- an abundance of long journeys and people giving help. (Like an overseas trip to a funeral?) The Reconciler/Result of the Result gave Via-- a (big) change. And following the Cardines told the the story Fortuna Minor, Tristitia, Fortuna Major, Fortuna Major: an initially positive-seeming development leads first to sadness, which leads to big money... and an aftermath of big money.
So...
Perhaps followup readings might clarify the situation and assuage my worries. However, I have some questions I'd like to ask first.
(1) At least at a quick glance, does my reading of "father dies and leaves me money" seem a reasonable interpretation here? Would a less overwrought scenario suggest itself to you, given these figures?
(2) I did not consecrate any divination tools, invoke any geomantic spirits, or pray in advance of my reading, nor do I do any kind of regular banishing ritual at present. Is it possible that this could have made any difference? For example, it occurs to me that I didn't specify a time frame for my reading. Perhaps it is a "correct" reading but I wasn't connecting with a guiding intelligence that cared to take into account my implied relatively short time frame, and so in this hypothesis, a "naughty" or even just "dumb" spirit gave me a correct answer which won't come to pass for years yet-- thus causing unnecessary emotional havoc.
(3) Assuming that I was just seeing apocalypse where none exists. Are there markers that show up which would more clearly indicate the fact if it really *was* a marker of tragedy? Is the ability to judge that mostly a matter of intuition, and it comes with experience?
Lazy Libra
Date: 2019-10-14 04:35 am (UTC)Re: Clue Stick Gratefully Accepted
Date: 2019-10-14 04:44 am (UTC)The first thing you do when you cast a geomantic reading is settle which of the two kinds of charts you're going to use -- shield or house. If it's a shield reading, the witnesses and judge give you the answer; if it's a house reading, the presence or absence of a mode of perfection gives you the answer. The special questions are ways of modifying the basic house chart reading, they don't stand alone. So the first thing to ask yourself in this reading is whether there's a mode of perfection connecting the house of the querent and the house of the quesited, and what that tells you.
In this chart, the house of the querent -- the 1st house -- has Fortuna Minor, and so does the house of the quesited -- the 2nd house. In a money reading, that tells me that you already have the money you need, or can get it quickly with the help of others (Fortuna Minor has this implication). The fact that it passes to the 5th and 6th houses tells me that you have a variety of options for getting more money if you want it, including investment (5th house) and employment (6th house). That's the heart of the reading. Trying to read all the houses will land you in the quandary you're in, trying to find meanings for a galaxy of figures that can mean all kinds of things.
So you asked a straightforward question and you got a straightforward answer. You can certainly get more money if you want it, either by investing or by getting a better job. The useful tip given by the Part of Fortune? Don't go into debt (the 8th house is the house of debt -- money owed to other people -- and Tristitia there is a bad sign).
It takes practice to learn how to focus on what matters in a geomantic reading and leave out all the things that don't matter. For now -- since you've been doing it for a week -- forget about the Index, the Part of Fortune, the cardines, the special questions, and the rest of it. You'll master geomancy far more effectively if, for the next three months, you interpret only the Witnesses and Judge, and leave it at that. Then spend three months factoring in the Way of the Points and the four Triplicities if those are appropriate. Then start work on the house chart, interpreting only the presence or absence of a mode of perfection, and stick with that until you've got that down cold; then, and only then, start adding in other factors -- and do it one at a time.
Oh, and a geomantic reading by and large won't tell you about a tragedy unless you ask it about one. The geomantic intelligences are very literal-minded, and will tell you what you ask them about, in a simple, straightforward, and precise manner.
Re: Lazy Libra
Date: 2019-10-14 04:56 am (UTC)Then make little changes. Never, but never, try to change your habits all at once; that's a very common way people make sure that they fail. Each day choose one small thing to do that's active, energetic, and enthusiastic rather than lazy. Just one thing, remember! Run the errand, write the email, do that one thing, and then sit back and let yourself be lazy for the rest of the day, to the extent that you can. Only when that one thing happens automatically, and you find yourself doing other things without making a big deal of it, should you go further.
Also, consider using an affirmation. The journaling will among other things show you what emotional needs your laziness is meeting. Choose an affirmation to help you fill those emotional needs in other ways. You can find instructions for that here.
hu gadarn; political magic
Date: 2019-10-14 05:13 am (UTC)I am going to be a bit greedy and post a double question here:
First, where can I find more information about Hu Gadarn? He figures highly in your Celtic Golden Dawn pantheon, but there is not nearly so much information about him as there is about Lugh or Cernunnos. Is there a particular one of your books that would be a good source?
Ok here is the other question: I wonder what you think of this news story (excerpted) and a comment on it that I will explain below:
https://news.yahoo.com/aria-cost-marie-antoinette-her-head-sung-again-024705964.html
"The last time the strains of the aria “Oh Richard! Oh my king!” echoed around the Opera Royal at Versailles it was for Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette just before they were dragged off to Paris and their doom by their revolting subjects. The piece from “Richard the Lionheart” by Andre Gretry, one of the tragic queen’s favourite composers, was last performed by the Palace of Versailles’ own opera company in 1789, as the ancien regime crumbled. This week it returned to the gilded chocolate-box opera, commissioned by the Sun King Louis XIV, after a 230-year break. The lavishly decorated theatre was used less than 20 times — most famously for the festivities that followed Marie-Antoinette’s marriage when she was just 14 — before she and her husband lost their heads in the French Revolution.
And it was the singing of the aria by the king’s bodyguards when the royal couple appeared at a banquet at the opera on October 1, 1789 that lead to their downfall, Versailles’ theatre and events director Laurent Brunner told AFP. Such a defiant display of royalist sentiment three months after the fall of Bastille incensed the hungry people of Paris, whose women marched out a few days later to take the royals back to the capital. “It caused a scandal in revolutionary Paris,” said Brunner, with radical leaders like Marat and Danton branding the banquet “counter-revolutionary”. Rumours circulated “that the revolutionary tricolour rosette has been trampled underfoot” by the royalist revellers, he added. [..] “Three days after (the news broke), the women of Paris marched on Versailles and the day after the palace was empty,” Brunner added."
This story was reported at Raul Ilargi Meijer's Automatic Earth site https://www.theautomaticearth.com/the-automatic-earth/
Raul is a peak oil writer who now does a daily news aggregation that has become my default daily newspaper. He has a regular commenter called Dr. D. who seems very astute (in every way except for being a climate change denier). Anyway, Dr. D. made the comment below about magic and the Marie Antoinette story, and I wonder if you have any thoughts, insights or additional knowledge about this that you could share with us? Thanks. Here's the comment:
"Somebody who believes in magic is throwing a lot of symbolism around France, as with the Notre Dame. Maybe we should ask Frenchie LeGuarde for another public lecture on the magic number seven again. That was eye-opening and no mistake. Remember, it doesn’t matter if it’s TRUE, what matters is powerful people THINK it’s true. It runs their actions, not yours. So much as they are erasing Britain, they are erasing France in a different way. For the hate of ego knows no bounds."
Do chants evoke magical entities?
Date: 2019-10-14 06:01 am (UTC)Brief description of the video: eight people (seven apparently female and one male) march counterclockwise in a circle waving multi-colored flags bearing the XR logo and chanting:
“People gonna rise like the water
Gonna shut this system down.
In the voice of my great grand-daughter
Saying Climate Justice Now.”
So my specific questions: 1) Do spiritual entities listen to such things, and if so which entities? And 2) If any of these entities actually listened and responded, what would they do with the notion of invoking the voice of an unborn and perhaps never-to-exist great grand-daughter?
BTW, XR appears to have appropriated this song from the peoplesclimate.org group, substantially degrading it by putting a negative spin on what in the original has a much more positive vibe; see https://youtu.be/QKcA9LS8Qpc for the original.
Thanks as always for this stimulating and informative forum!
Meditation
Date: 2019-10-14 06:16 am (UTC)"If it was actually Elen, she'll be back; you might consider praying to her. If it wasn't, why, you dodged a potential problem."
"If I may hook up on this... What kind of problems would be possible? How would you deal with it?"
"If it was a predatory spirit, it depends on what it was after and how gullible you were."
What range of problems can one expect? What would be a common experience and what would be the "worst case"?
Thank you!
Nachtgurke
Re: Lazy Libra
Date: 2019-10-14 06:24 am (UTC)It teaches you compassion and patience - not only with yourself, but also with others. If others behave annoying towards you, especially people who are close to you, I found it very valuable to ask myself what purpose this behavior might be needed for in that persons life. In some cases just thinking deeply about it may solve the whole issue.
So, thanks again!
Nachtgurke
Family protection
Date: 2019-10-14 06:52 am (UTC)1. How can I find out if my family is in danger? Geomancy with multiple significators?
2. If the answer is yes, how to proceed without telling my parents? Could a bottle/river charm separate me from them as well? Would a witch bottle need their consent?
(For what it’s worth, Folk Magic is very common in my mother’s country, so the person in question might recognize it; she has made hints about itafew times.)
Etheric Effect of Breastfeeding
Date: 2019-10-14 07:11 am (UTC)As I type this, I'm realizing that she has started getting scared at night since we've reduced to 1 nursing session daily. I wonder if it's coincidence or connected. And if connected, whether the source of that is just emotional or if there are other elements.
Rather than fooftawoos, she says she's scared of "the bees," and has even run to my bed once in the wee hours complaining about bees in her room. Mind you, we have never ever seen a bee in our apartment, our windows are screened, and our building manager has an exterminator come around routinely for maintenance so I almost never see bugs of any kind in all the years we've lived here. Also she has not had negative encounters with bees outside- I like to point them out to her and calmly tell her to give them space while we watch them pollinating flowers. So this sudden fear of the "bees in her room" is quite confusing. I'm navigating how to help her with her bees, and prayer seems to do okay. You mentioned bay laurel being protective so I may get that oil soon to diffuse in her room in addition. I'm open to other suggestions. (I don't practice ritual magic, btw.)
Anyway, are there theories out there about sensitive children and their nursing habits? (She does seem to still have some degree of clairvoyance. She knew I was pregnant before I did. She also knew that the baby was a boy- and was distinctly unhappy about that fact- a week before the ultrasound technician confirmed it.) Obviously she has to wean some time, and I want that time to be now... but not to her detriment if she "needs" it. In case it's relevant, she currently refuses to eat any meat except for chicken nuggets- and that only 2 or 3 times in a week. I do serve her various meats regularly but she has no interest. Her protein comes from peanut butter, greek yogurt, and cheese. And maybe twice a month she'll deign to eat an egg. But if I understand correctly, the need for meat has more to do with grounding after magical practice, rather than clairvoyance... or am I mistaken? (Apologies, I am only an occasional reader here, so I can definitely be mis-remembering.)
Thank you for this space to ask questions.
Sincerely,
Mom of the Fooftawoo Banisher
Aluminum
Date: 2019-10-14 07:17 am (UTC)Recently there has been news of advances in aluminum battery technology with the introduction of an organic carbon based molecule as the cathode that doubles the power storage potential (now they are working on the electrolyte).
Regardless if this is helpful or hype, it got me thinking about the book Secrets of the Temple since aluminum is the third most available element in the earths crust and how we may now be just catching up to technology thousands of years old, albeit with a different application and scale.
I found this exciting because now I am working on an agroforestry project finally feel like I have a reason to advance my magic practice and take on something bigger that could potentially be of great benefit to future generations.. Up until this point I’ve been using basic rituals to clear out old karma and improve my relationship with myself and the larger world. It took a long time but now I finally feel like I have turned a corner and am much less of a turd blossom than before.
Any advice for someone interested in moving on to the more advanced practices? How does one know they are ready to take on heavier lifting?
Much thanks for being so generous with your time.
Hermetic Third Eye?
Date: 2019-10-14 07:29 am (UTC)Kevin
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-14 08:35 am (UTC)Earth based meditation
Date: 2019-10-14 08:44 am (UTC)Following on from my question on the Discursive Meditation blog, is there a good Discursive Meditation that goes with the earth that align with the CGD? I ask this because we reach up from the Earth as it gets small and into the stars to bring down the light in the Rite of Rays, but we don’t do something that goes into the earth.
Off meditations on the tree of life image, I have imagined vividly the earth beneath me. Is it okay to then imagine I have roots going down too? I think I’m wary as there are Earth workings in the bard grade which I’m postponing as my child is very young. Thoughts?
Many thanks
Edward
Re: Lazy Libra
Date: 2019-10-14 09:36 am (UTC)Obviously that's just an example, but here are 4 habits being changed, which goes against the advice you've given above to never change more than one habit at once. Is that just because this banishing is done as part of a ritual working such as the SOP and thus has more powerful effects?
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-14 09:45 am (UTC)Is there a consensus on the magical power (or what's left of it) contained in commercially available dried herbs? I kicked myself for spooning herbs into an amulet with a steel spoon, but then realised they were probably processed with steel machinery anyway. Should I assume in future that they've been well and truly discharged and stick to medicinal use for these types of products?
Thank you for Magic Monday!
Approaching boulders
Date: 2019-10-14 09:49 am (UTC)Would there be any point in doing energy work similar to the Ovate Tree Working in CGD with large rocks? There's a 200-ton glacial erratic with a distinctly anthropomorphic face near where I live, and I always get a dizzyingly heavy feeling whenever I go to see it - the heaviness is not unpleasant but just ancient and vast.
Moreover, if I wanted to leave a liquid offering (vodka, for instance) to this particular giant with its permission, should I pour the liquid on the ground in front of it or on its surface?
(no subject)
Date: 2019-10-14 10:32 am (UTC)A friend of mine has resolved to finally tackle head-on the negative programming she was saddled with by her parents and other childhood authorities, which has resulted in almost 40 years of self-loathing. She's been quite successful in her chosen career, by dint of powerful will and pure cussedness (extremely well dignified Mars in Scorpio), and is loved and respected by most everyone who knows her; and yet she can't accept the overwhelming evidence as to her worth as a human being. Most problematically, she had beaten into her early on a sharp opposition between love and respect: you must never respect the ones you love, and never love the ones you respect. To add insult to injury, she experiences both love and respect primarily as power relationships, dominating and dominated respectively. She wants to fix that, so she can finally enjoy all the love and respect in her life and reciprocate it properly, and free up all the energy that's currently being wasted on self-hatred.
As such, she's trying to formulate a couple of affirmations to target these root problems, and asked me run the drafts by you. (She's read your introduction to affirmations post, but wants to make sure.) One of the broken records in her brain is "I'm so stupid, it takes me hours to do what others do in minutes, or is even impossible for me" and "I do not understand the simplest things, so must be punished with deprivation." (Keep in mind this is someone who has published award-winning books and won major grants -- and yet finds the simple act of grocery shopping overwhelming, so prefers to starve.) To counteract this, she's thinking to go with something like "I am perfectly competent and intelligent and understand everything I need to." To tackle the love/respect mess, she's thinking "I love and and respect myself and others, and they love and respect me." What do you think? Any suggestions for fine-tuning, or better tapping into an existing egregore?
Also, her native language is not English, and the negative programming was drilled into her in her native language; yet she says that for cultural reasons the above affirmations sound ridiculous in that tongue, and sound much better to her in English. To really get at the original programming, is it nevertheless important to use the language of one's heart, or is the main thing to go with what feels more natural and effective?
Geomancy
Date: 2019-10-14 10:34 am (UTC)I too have taken up geomancy recently, and for the first time in my magical training I feel like I've been here before. As a matter of fact I have a pretty good idea of (very roughly) when and where.
For some reason I had stuck my little meteorite in my pocket while I was reading your book "The Art and Practice of Geomancy," and as I read, the vision of watching it blaze down from the heavens came forcefully to mind, especially the bit where I picked it up and dropped it in my little leather pouch. Then I realized that the pouch didn't have any money in it, don't ever recall feeling like it did actually, but perhaps contained small tools for divination instead. And it also struck me what a brilliant symbol for the interplay of heaven and earth a meteorite makes. A real geomantic treasure!
More than just about anything I want to get a closer look in that little leather pouch! And in fact have asked a leather-working craft show friend to make a new one for me, just like the one in my vision.
I assume from your past advice, though, that this matter, like any other concerning past life memories, will just need to come at its own pace? Which is maddeningly slow...I can understand why people spend their energy and good money in the attempt to retrieve past life memories! (Especially if they were once Cleopatra...)
Secondly, could my little meteorite be consecrated as an aid to my rapidly reemerging exploration of geomancy? Is that advisable? Or maybe better left to its own devices?
Thanks a bunch.
Tripp
Why Merlin and Bleys ? Well...
Date: 2019-10-14 10:47 am (UTC)Pat, waiting for Arkham like a cat at a mousehole - with baited breath.
Psychic centres
Date: 2019-10-14 10:56 am (UTC)What I'm wondering is what are psychic centres really for? Googling says they're pretty much the same idea as chakras, and they're the centres on the Central Ray exercise in the DOGD. I get that they can help give you psychic abilities like clairvoyance and clearly blocked ones are all round bad for you. But I really want to be able to communicate with my Higher Self. I haven't got to the Druid grade yet. Do psychic centres help you do that and if so how?
Second Saturn return
Date: 2019-10-14 11:19 am (UTC)My second Saturn return is due to start this coming April and I'm curious about it. From what I've read, the second return can be about shedding things we don't need and/or moving forward with new projects and that it can be awful or pretty good.
Being new to the concept of a Saturn return, I'm looking back over the last several years and what's happened in my life, wondering if I've been unconsciously getting ready for what is to come, if that's even possible. The last five years have been both tough and transformative - I've been working through a huge number of old issues that have held me back for much of my life and this work has gone on in a way that feels almost urgent, as in 'You need to address this NOW'. It's been very, very intense, and at times very painful, but has yielded positive results. Even before I knew about Saturn returns, I'd been planning a change in direction with my work in the coming year. What might the above portend for the coming Saturn return? If it helps my Saturn is in Aquarius.
Newbie questions
Date: 2019-10-14 12:18 pm (UTC)a newbie here. I have a few questions and comments about my magical training.
1) The Sphere of Protection. It is going well; I can feel the energy flowing through me. But during the closing phase, I don't really know what to do with my arms. I'm supposed to cross them on my chest at the end, but before that? I found that touching the solar plexus with my thumbs helps me focus on the initial establishment of the sphere.
2) Meditation. All and all its going OK, my body can quickly relax and I feel the warmth circling through me without losing the attention focus. I do a 15- or 20-minute meditation daily, depending on the topic. The problems I have are mostly external, I'm currently living in a very small house along with my relatives and there is little privacy. I don't let them know about my eccentric hobby, so I have to improvise e.g. the SOP I do in the bathroom. With meditation I can't take a proper posture without questions being asked, so I pretend to nap sitting on the coach when I meditate. I know it may not be optimal, but I think it’s important to practice now rather than wait for conditions to improve.
3) Divination. I use Ogham (in my case cards) to cast divination. The results are mixed. Sometimes the reading is spot on, other times its vague and hard to decipher. The problem I have is that I don't know what to ask. There are few burning questions, certainly not enough to do a divination every day. Can I just ask "What can I expect from the coming day?". Then again, I'm a little reluctant because I feel that if I do a divination I will be bound by its results, if that makes any sense.
Thank you for hosting Magic Mondays. May the Druid gods bless you.
P.S. Why did you feature Merlin and Bleys? I am unaware!
Logos
Date: 2019-10-14 12:33 pm (UTC)I wanted to ask if there are any potential negative implications for using a heptagram in a logo I’m creating for a podcast. I’ve always been drawn to the seven pointed start. The symbolism of seven is significant as well—days of creation, number of completion in the Bible, sabbath rest, not to mention, the seven gates we invoke in the AODA, and seven is also my numerological life path number.
I did a tarot reading about starting this business and interestingly, every pip card that showed up had a 7.
In any case, I know it has been used by the fae magic tradition and have seen it come with warnings. I have no experience with the fae, that I know of, and no interest in dabbling in fae magic. I wouldn’t want to use something imbalanced, but it seems balanced to me. Do you know of anything within occult philosophy that would provide cause to steer clear of it?
Thanks,
David
geomancy, alcohol and dying
Date: 2019-10-14 12:57 pm (UTC)